So I have noticed on the vendor above in the link. They suggest for all the green teas to leave some tea in the gaiwan to keep the leaves wet. Rather then decant all of the tea to help balance the tea for each infusion.

I have been using a gaiwan, and have tried not decanting all the tea. It does seem to help with the tea taste.

The thing is I'd like to use something other then the gaiwan. I would like to use different brew equipment for the green, and not use the same oolong brew equipment.

So I'm looking at this product for self serving. http://www.redblossomtea.com/teaware/in ... r-cup.htmlThe thing is it is not designed to keep the leaves wet between infusions. So I guess the obvious question. Are many of you keeping the leaves wet between infusions, or is this not a important step?

I like the infuser cup. Though not sure if removing the leaves from water between infusions is a good practice, or not.

Can anyone comment on your green tea experience in regards to my comments? I experimented with a regular tall glass today to brew in. I liked it, but too hot too handle. I also used a gaiwan lid to hold the leafs in the glass. To decant tea to cup. I like the idea of seeing the leafs as they brew. Though I want to decant from brewing vessel to another cup for drinking.

So I'm struggling with how to brew the green. Also is anyone using the tea in first link? If so, what do you like for water temp, and brew time?

One thing to consider with those glass infusers: the slits are not really large enough for the strongly infused solution inside to mix with the bulk of liquid outside the infuser, and they clog quickly with bits of leaf. So they drain slower and slower with more use, and you end up either pouring out a too-dilute tea that is mostly from the outside of the infuser and waiting for the more concentrated tea to drain, or holding the hot infuser up letting it drain and mix before you pour out, scorching fingers. They're my least favorite way to infuse any tea.

if you are looking for a glass one you could check out one like thishttp://www.amazon.com/Hario-Handmade-Glass-Tea-Pot/dp/B002LW0HVMit has a small coil strainer that fits into the spout instead of an infuser basket. May work well as long as you are using larger whole leaf teas. I havent used one but had seen them during my teaware searches before.

tea.and.peace wrote:So what would be some good alternative brewing device options? Other then a gaiwan. For self serving, or small groups of like three/four drinkers. Tea drinkers that is.

I'd just like to separate rituals for green vs. oolong brews. To have a different experience. Since I'm doing gaiwan for oolong I'm hoping for another method for the loose leaf green tea.

Perhaps a teapot with the loose leaf freely floating. Then a tea strainer on top of drinking cup. ??

I have had several small teapots like this one, with a small glass filter built into it. They do benefit from the traditional lid-tie, to keep the lid from falling off and shattering (something that happened to one of mine a couple of times before I clued in), but otherwise are reasonably sturdy, and compact enough that I've taken them with me on trips, wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap inside a little box. I can get them inexpensively at my local chinatown tea shop--the price is quite comparable. I've never used the style with the little wire coil filter, but with a little glass pot like this I've brewed herbal, white, green, oolong, and puerh teas. It doesn't work the best for sencha or for other teas with finely broken leaves (most black teas), because the strainer holes aren't very fine. Perhaps the wire coil versions are better for that.

A little glass pot like that lets you watch the tea leaves 'dance'--especially nice with Long Jing, An Ji Bai Cha, and silver needle-style teas.

The reason I had not purchased my original links is that I was struggling if they were the best. Obviously my original links are not the best for me.

I do like the idea of glass pot to see the leaves dancing in the water. I can add the correct temp water with my electric kettle. It seems that having the coil/strainer type filter at spout head would be my best option. I imagine with only putting a certain amount of water in the pot. There probably is a pour technique to keep the leaves mostly away from the spout head.

So now I think I just have to decide what size would be best for me. My space is limited. So I'd like to have a size I can use for self serving, but also large enough to serve 3-4 people. Considering we can do multiple infusions I'd like to find a happy medium in pot size.

So thanks I'll look around for more size options. I'm not really in a rush at this point to purchase anything.

debunix wrote:50-60 mL is a popular size for chinese teacups--it's easy to find a set small enough for 4 people to share tea from a 150 mL pot.

Ya know I like this idea as well. Though it was not my original plan.

I was going to drink the green in a more American style with a 6 or 8 oz glass cup. I wanted the larger pot to have the ability to make larger amounts of tea to serve more folks then just myself.

I think I have decided I will continue to use the larger cup for my own brews. Then for guests use your smaller tea cup suggestion. I already have four of those cups in stock. This will allow me to only have one teapot, and with the smaller teapot. Then smaller cups for guests I won't need to brew such large amounts since it will be smaller cups. Keeping equipment simple, and keeping my consumerism fairly minimal is important to me. So yeah your right thanks for the suggestion.

Consider using a stainless steel infuser basket. I'm used to using a guiwan but wanted something larger but felt that a traditional teapot would let too much air in and dilute the flavor.I've been using a basket made by Teavana and I'm very happy with it. I don't have to poke tea leaves back down into the cup or use a strainer... it's very convenient, clean and accurate because you can pull the basket right out of the cup and it's instantly drained. The holes are very small and unless your tea is powder you won't get any in your cup.

So the vendor suggested with my gaiwan no lid. 194 degree water(boil then let cool to right temp), flash wash, 5-7 sec first steep, 7g for 100ml. add a few sec to each additional steep.

I was not really comfortable with these directions. I felt like it was too much leaf. I thought steep was too fast, and water temp too high. Though it tasted fine I just want something a bit different with the brew parameters.

I've been experimenting since I have plenty in stock. I like the stronger style taste of this type of tea. So just trying to fine tune brewing.

Question - with my 120ml gaiwan. I've added 4.5g with 170 degree water. No lid on gaiwan. Boil water then cool to 170 degree. First infusion 20 seconds. Adding a few seconds following infusions. I seem to like the taste. Does this seem like reasonable parameters for brewing?

I tried a 3 minute infusion at 170 degree water, but it was bitter. I think since the tea is fresh the brew time only needs to be short. This eliminated the bitterness. I tried a few other things, but the 20 sec @ 170 degree water seems to work well.